Map Editor
Soulash includes multiple editors for adding custom content to the game. To access these editors enter the mods screen, select a mod and click "Edit" then "Content" buttons or follow instructions in the Modding article to create your first mod. The map editor allows the making of new maps that may be used when a new world is generated. Screen explanation Soulash world consists of multiple region maps of size 64x64 tiles connected seamlessly to each other. Every map has a position in a 3-dimensional coordinate system that you can access by changing values in the first three input fields on the top left side of the map editor. The first three boxes are for x, y, z, respectively. The last box is for alternative maps. If you're making a map that should always generate during world creation, this field should stay empty (which is the same as 0). Still, if you would like to create different versions of the region map, you can add as many as you like by bumping the counter in the 4th field. The number after the 4th box indicates how many alternative maps are available at the selected position. One of the regions you created will generate during world creation. A little below coordinate inputs, you can find a list of entities defined in your mod and mods that you marked as required. The input field allows you to filter the list to find what you need quickly. All entities on the list display glyph with a background, if applicable, as well as their name. You can also see that every object has a button to the right, which enters the Entity Editor. Below the list of entities, you will find a list of spawn groups assigned to the region. The world generator will pick one of the spawn groups listed here at random. Spawn groups that come from one of the "required mods" selection will have a light yellow background. Every entry on the list has three buttons available. One of them allows editing of the spawn group setting, one duplicates the existing group, and one copies the color and world map mark from the spawn group into the existing form when either creating or editing a group. Below that, you can find buttons useful when creating the map. * The first button indicating a bucket, fill the whole map with a selected tile. It's particularly useful when starting a new region. * The second button with an arrow down allows displaying a map below your current region (z dimension -1). It can be helpful to add connections between them in proper positions or keep the consistency of the world on different height planes. * The third button with an arrow up works in the same fashion as the second button but displays the map above (z dimension +1). * The fourth button, with an eye and a roof, displays the roof placed on the map. The roof is a significant part of the game, as it protects from weather conditions and affects area lighting, so it's essential to place it in the right positions. The roof is not created automatically based on maps above to prevent the need for creating regions just for this purpose. * The fifth button, with a roof, adds or removes the roof at selected tiles depending on their current state. The roof will be marked with red color when the fourth button is activated. The last element in the panel to the left is an input for the map name. Maps save continuously to prevent data loss, but only regions with a name will be available for world creation. Next, we move on to the top right of the screen. When you select a single tile, you can see all entities created there in a list in order from the top (displayed) to the bottom (background tile). There are up to 3 buttons available here: * Plus sign will move the tile up top, replacing the tile above it. * Minus sign will move the tile down, replacing the tile below it. Hotkeys There are a couple of useful hotkeys with basic functionalities that can help create the maps: * Ctrl + c - copy selected tiles * Ctrl + x - copy selected tiles and remove them. * Ctrl + v - paste copied tiles in the selected area, replacing what is there. The tiles will start from the bottom left corner. If the chosen area is larger than the copied area, tiles to the top or to the right will not change. In case the selection is smaller, only part of the copied tiles will be inserted on the map. Selecting tiles To select a single tile, it's enough to click it with the left mouse button. After selection, two things might happen. Either you will place the selected entity on the list, or select the map tile to choose an object for placement next. It's also possible to select a rectangle of multiple tiles, to do it, hold the left mouse button while you hover over many tiles. Other minor functionalities * Some entities, like generators, don't have glyphs. These tiles are marked with a transparent overlay color for convenience. After all, it would be hard to remove something without seeing it. * Sometimes too many tiles of the same type are being placed in the same spot. It's not always a mistake, but in case it is, it will be highlighted with an orange border to quickly identify these locations. Category:Modding